You've got the wrong number
by Nekocin
Summary: AU, eventual KaiRei, themes, series, PG:: Life as Rei is so not fair. Especially when everyone thinks he could be easily manipulated.
1. Prelude

**Title: **You've got the wrong number  
**Author:** Nekocin/tyreling  
**Fandom: **Bakuten Shoot Beyblade  
**Focus: **eventual KaiRei  
**Other: **PG, AU, overall romance, series  
**Disclaimer: **Do not own Beyblade. If I did, I would have made KaiRei an official couple. **:nods:** Besides that, I do not own the themes mentioned later on for each chapter. Title of this fic belongs to DBSK, from the song "Wrong number".

* * *

**Prelude**

* * *

"I take you're not Hiromi."

There's no need to deny the truth. Rei just gives the man a rueful smile, shaking his head gently. "No. I'm sorry. She couldn't make it because of her work. I'm just here to call off your date. I'm really sorry about this."

The hopeful face droops just a little in disappointment; eyes downcast and shoulders sagged, no longer proud. Yet another wrong candidate.

"I'm really, really sorry about this."

"It's all right. Maybe some other time." the stranger sounds awfully doubtful about his own words.

Rei couldn't blame him. If a girl sends someone to call off the date because she's busy, it means she's not interested in her date at all, as far as he knows. A second date will never come out of this one. Sometimes he wonders why he's putting up with this. His friend, Hiromi, always seems to have some sort of excuse to get her dates off her back.

The thing is, Rei knows this, Hiromi is seeing someone secretly outside this whole fiasco. Her mother, on the other hand, has other ideas, signing her up at some matchmaking centre and paid for a month's premium service behind Hiromi's back. In order to make her membership worthwhile, even though she isn't interested in the many matches the organization has in store for her, she has decided to make full use of their services.

That's where Kon Rei comes in.

He's supposed to be playing the part of a very concerned, unnoticeable friend, pretending to be Hiromi at first, and then call off any possible future meetings. It's getting more and more annoying these days. So far, he has kicked almost fifteen suitors out, this week, which is frighteningly very... sad.

Date number fifteen waves goodbye and walks out of the sitting room into the busy streets of downtown. Rei returns the politeness with faked cheerfulness and as soon as date number fifteen disappears, he drops the facade, releasing a long tired sigh and fishes out his cell phone from his pockets, quick-dialing Hiromi's number.

"Hey, it's me. Rei. Your date has just left." He seats himself on the loveseat, which he and date number fifteen had occupied a moment ago, and leans back, head resting against the soft plush, and eyes staring at the high ceiling. This matchmaking centre is so classy; it's fraying his nerves--high ceilings, bright chandeliers, satin-covered couches, expensive-looking tapestries and paintings, free delicacies which he will never ever be able to afford. The sheer presence of obvious wealth makes his stomach lurch a few times. (Or maybe it's just his stomach disagreeing with today's breakfast.)

Given the fact that he isn't one of the premium members sends another wave of discomfort in his mind. No matter how many times Hiromi has assured him that he's doing fine and it's okay to use her membership card for a while, it feels as if he is poaching off of someone else's money (which is technically true).

How exactly did Hiromi string him into this situation again?

A month ago he hasn't even known the matchmaking business ever existed, much less flourished under muted circumstances. (A lot of people don't mind paying for premium membership in order to meet several matches, hoping for their eventual designated soul mate to pop up.) He was only an innocent bystander, casual friend-buddy before Hiromi had decided he's the right person to fill in her stead.

The reasons being, she had ticked off on her fingers all-knowingly:  
- he needs to go out more and meet other people  
- he's just finished with a dramatic chapter of life; it's time to start anew  
- he's handsome enough; why not flaunt a bit?  
- he can't say 'no' to Hiromi at all  
- and last but not least, he is being blackmailed from the very beginning.

What makes matters worse, Hiromi has obviously ignored the fact that all the suitors are guys and Rei, as far as he's aware of himself, is also a guy. (Not that he's offended, or anything.)

There's a swift movement from the corner of his eyes, almost automatically he looks up to assess the stranger sitting on the other couch besides the loveseat, for a second, nods politely and then rises from his sitting position. "Look. I've got to go. I'll call you later, all right? Bye. Yes...yes...no. No! You don't have the right to do this. _Bye, Hiromi_,"

Ending the call abruptly, Rei glares at his cell phone and then stuffs it away into his pristine, rented suit, releasing another long sigh. His cousin, Mao, would hit him on the head for sighing too often; each sigh represents dwindling happiness, according to her, when done quite repeatedly, ten life years will be subtracted from one's lifespan.

That is _-if-_ she catches him sighing. At this rate, he could care less about such trivial matters.

He straightens his back, smoothes down his suit and prepares to walk off as unassuming as possible. His work here is done.

... unless some poor chap decides to text-message him, assuming him to be Hiromi.

Well, speak of the dev-.

His cell phone vibrates; he's received an sms.

**- You're leaving already? -**

Rei raises his eyebrows at the cryptic message. The messenger must have sent wrong. He ignores the message, stuffing his cell back into his pockets. But before he could take a step forward his cell vibrates again.

**- Turn around. I want to see you properly. -**

Rei feels as if he's just stepped into a shower of icy cold water, freezing his spine and nerves within a second. Actually, he has the right not to heed this simple request. He's not interested in getting himself matched. But one part of him is curious, always curious, about the next candidate. In the back of his mind, he blames Hiromi for making him -look- at guys.

Slowly, he turns around, letting his eyes sweep over the lobby to see if anyone is looking at him. He sees a quick wave and then a redhead approaches him...with the matchmaking centre's logo sown on his breast pocket.

Oh shit.

Everything has gone downhill from then on.

* * *

"You're one unlucky man, Kon Rei." says Yuriy, the redhead's name, flippantly, dropping a folder in front of Rei's face and leans back in his chair.

Rei stiffens, his eyes are glued onto the label which bares the characters of his name. He flips open the folder to find... pictures, pictures and some more pictures of himself. From black and white baby pictures to some random snapshots like the one of himself sliding out a cake from the oven.

"What's this about?" He demands.

"Don't assume we are blind to such fraudulent activities such as you, yourself, are doing. Using someone else's card, strike up some conversation with random suitors and then break it off upon the first meeting. I have been keeping my eyes on you, Kon Rei." Yuriy explains calmly and leans forward, appearing even more dominating than before.

A wave of dread overcomes him easily as it has finally dawned upon Rei that he's been caught.

"You--you're sending me to jail?" His tone doesn't even sound as shocked as Rei, himself, is feeling at that moment. The prospect of sitting behind bars, though unappealing, is more likely to happen in his case even if he were to explain his side of the story. He has breached the organization's rules, made use of their facilities under a different person's name.

"When I say I have been keeping my eyes on you, I really mean it." Yuriy pauses between a breath and a smirk. "You can go to jail. Or... you can accept a proposition I've in mind."

Rei stares at him for a long minute or two. He's immediately reminded of Hiromi listing off reasons as to why he's a good candidate--he's being blackmailed yet again. He doesn't need to weigh the pros and cons for this matter; going to jail really is unappealing.

Life as Rei is _so_ not fair.

"... fine." He says at last. "What's this proposition you speak of?"

Rei could almost hear a sinister laugh coming out of Yuriy's lips.

"I know you would see it my way." Yuriy smirks. "Date my cousin and I'll let you off the hook."

Rei shrugs mentally, obviously he has no choice in this matter or any matter at all. "That's it? Only one date?"

"Yep. One date is enough."

The rational side of him decides to jump in. "But why? You could have hooked your cousin with anyone from this Centre."

"If it were that easy, you think I wouldn't have done so in the first place?" scoffs Yuriy, waving his hand dismissively to perish the thought.

"Okay. What exactly is the problem?" Rei prods some more.

"It's against the Company's policies." Yuriy responds simply.

"Company's policies? Who exactly is your cousin?" Rei narrows his eyes.

"I'm so glad you've finally asked the award-winning question, Kon." Yuriy says mockingly, flashing him a long grin as he reaches over to a picture frame on his desk and turns it around. "Hiwatari Kai, the brains behind the business-related things of our beloved Matchmaking Centre. We're an outside branch of the Hiwatari's Corporations."

Rei could not help but drop his jaw in shock.

Oh. My. God.

"Please shoot my brains out, Mr. Yuriy." He manages to strangle out some words. His tongue feels oddly mangled and thick in his own mouth.

"Nah. Where's the fun in this without you? You're perfect for this little -_date_-. You have no association with either Hiwatari Corporations or this Matchmaking Centre, officially. And besides, you can be easily manipulated. I like that." Yuriy says, laughing.

"Thanks a lot. That makes me feel _so_ much better," Rei mutters, releasing another sigh.

He should have chosen the other option and spare himself from all of this. Something bad is going to happen soon. He just knows it.

* * *

**-to be continued -**

**TheNekoTalks:**

... fine, you can all kill me now. Another series. **:head desks:**

**.:Nekocin:.**

**  
Edit: :head desks: Lots of typos. Sorry.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** You've got the wrong number  
**Author:** Nekocin/tyreling  
**Fandom: **Bakuten Shoot Beyblade  
**Focus: **eventual KaiRei  
**Other: **PG13, AU, overall romance, series  
**Disclaimer:** Do not own Beyblade. If I did, I would have made KaiRei an official couple. :nods: Besides that, I do not own the themes mentioned later on for each chapter. Title of this fic belongs to DBSK, from the song "Wrong number", album "MIROTIC". Title of this chapter is part of DBSK's recent song "Neon Naui Norae" from the same album.

* * *

**Chapter 1: "You're my melody"**

**- theme: #1 first date -**

* * *

The big hurdle is actually how to get in contact with Hiwatari Kai. He's a tough business man, carrying more than one cell phone in his brief case (most likely four, Rei assumes; one for business, one for family, one for backup and the last one for... personal reasons) and probably has six thug-like bodyguards follow him around.

If he takes the first step by befriending him with text-messages, Rei has absolutely no chance of ever meeting Yuriy's cousin. Because, he reasons calmly, why would Hiwatari bother with anonymous messages left on his phone? And even if he did glance at the text, he'll probably confiscate the phone and buy a new model with a much difficult number combination; or much worse, run a complete background check on the unknown number and get -_him_- arrested for public disruption and harassment.

That's what a reasonable man would do.

... maybe that's for the best. It's his best escape route, after all.

Yuriy, however, seems to have other ideas of what a reasonable businessman would do, taking -_his_- cell phone to punch a number and presses the call button, before placing the device to his ear.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Rei panics.

"Making a… an early appointment for you with Kai." Yuriy says flippantly as if it's the most normal thing to do at the moment.

"What? This fast?" The little hope that Hiwatari will never -ever- accept a date with an anonymous person goes down the drain. It would make life a bit easier if Hiwatari says no.

Yuriy ignores him and turns his back to Rei. "Good morning, my most favorite cousin in the world." That's sarcasm. "Guess what? I've finally found s-."Yuriy says lazily, before releasing a string of curses, and glares at the phone. "The bastard hung up on me."

"Bad timing?" Rei quips helpfully.

"No. As far as I know, he has no meetings or conferences today." Yuriy presses a few buttons for a few minutes and then hands the phone over to Rei.

"Here. It has no use anymore. Kai has blocked your number." Yuriy continues in his flippant tone.

Rei stares at him. "What am I supposed to do about it? Wait for him to take the first step?"

The thought of Hiwatari Kai asking -_him_- out actually strikes him as fairly, surely impossible.

Yuriy laughs, neither happy nor amused (sarcastic perhaps?), and then stops--as if taking it into consideration. "Hmmm, maybe you're right. He's one stubborn asshole, who always wants to take matters into his own hands." Yuriy's ice blue eyes twinkle when they glance Rei's way. "Give me a few days. I'll make sure he agrees to one date. One date is enough. What's so scary about just one date?"

Rei doesn't want to answer that, only starts listing possibilities in his mind:  
- Meeting a complete stranger.  
- A high chance of getting disappointed.  
- He's already in a relationship.  
- Or, he's completely uninterested because of his asexuality.

(Sounds agreeable so far.)

... or maybe he's very shy?

"Why are you doing this again?" Rei wonders, instead. "Your cousin could have easily found someone without any help."

Yuriy scoffs between a snort and snigger. "You've a funny perspective about dating unknown people, Kon. Is that why you're using your friend's card? Because you have no one at home who wants to introduce you to nice, docile, pretty girls? Or guys?"

That... hurts.

He refuses to give the other man the satisfaction that his words have hit home, turning away to glare to his left. It all comes back to the reason why he is now under Mr. Yuriy's control.

So what if his family has failed to find someone appropriate for him?

* * *

When he first began meeting Hiromi's dates, he had tried very hard not to worry and lose his head in this game. No, not exactly a game. He wasn't trying to win anything out of this. He wasn't trying to enjoy the short sessions either. They were all blind dates--not really that much acquainted to develop certain affections except maybe a few sparks of interest.

What's so different about having a blind date with Hiwatari scheduled? Just treat it as any ordinary date, he tells himself. He'll pick a nice suit (ignoring the fact that he's only rented one suit for a month) from his closet, make himself presentable and bring along his money pouch, just in case. He'll just take a seat, smile, make small conversation, order ice tea and then bid good day. Easy!

Unfortunately, even though, he has already planned out how to present himself, he feels his own courage sink to his shoes each passing hour. What if he says something stupid? What if he actually reveals he's been using Hiwatari Corporations' facilities under a fake name?

If Yuriy won't send him to jail because of a -favor- he's doing, Hiwatari will--demanding him to pay for a long list of bills Rei will never be able to repay. Unless a miracle is bestowed upon his life and frees him from such unnecessary headaches.

17:15

He's starting to feel like an idiot, tearing his eyes away from the short text message (that informs him of the place, time and date he's supposed to meet with Mr. Hiwatari) and drops his cell phone at arm's length on the bed, beside his pillow.

Just a moment ago, he had fished out excuses to ward off his worried cousins (that he's rather unwell--stomach ache? headache?--and really needs a nap) but he feels hardly rested. Even with his eyes closed, he keeps rolling around underneath his blankets, above his blankets, pushing his pillows to the corners, trying unsuccessfully to subdue his restlessness, his eyes would flutter open in an instant to stare at the cell phone, before tearing his eyes away, again.

And again.

And again.

17:25

Dammit! Grrr, must get some sleep.

* * *

Table number 35, which Yuriy has so nicely reserved, is... empty. Rei isn't quite sure if he should feel relieved and hurt about this at the same time. (Those two emotions rarely go together, like fire and oil in the middle of an ignited scrap of metal. Or something close to that extend.)

He has never been stood up before.  
Though he has tried not to go too deep about this little date, the invisible dent on his ego has still prowled in, much in the way of one extra drop of liquid overflowing an already-filled-to-the-rim bucket of water.

Lowering his head to rest his chin on the arm upon the table, Rei idly allows his eyes to study the tableware. There's the specials' menu card (printed neatly with business-like font and some cheery swirly decorations), paper napkins' rack (with only a few sheets), a lonely vase with a stem of some indistinguishable flower, a batch of toothpicks and two cups filled with salt and pepper.

He glances to his wristwatch.

Still a few minutes to go. There's no need to panic. Just relax Rei, he tells himself. If things turn out bad for him, he'll know what to do. When the time is right, that is.

"Kon Rei?"

He immediately shoots up from his huddled position, sitting ramrod straight in his chair and faces the person who has addressed him, unsuccessfully trying to regain his calm. "Y-yes?"

... and he wants to die right now.

Standing right beside his table is clearly businessman named Hiwatari in all of his glory--black (mafia?) suit, red-striped (with little birds) tie, silver briefcase in one hand, and nothing in the other one (his right hand suspiciously forms a fist).  
The words 'damn scary and cool' flash through his mind. Like a fumbling idiot, Rei pushes his chair back to stand up and bids the other man good evening, hand raised for a short wave and smiles. Hiwatari does not acknowledge the greeting, only flickered disinterested vermouth eyes to asses him physically.

"I don't do dates." Hiwatari states rather straightforwardly, obviously not amused with this at all, though he makes no move to leave the dinner hall or take a seat.

Rei's own smile freezes between disappointment and surprise. Apparently, there are a lot of loose screws short-circuiting his mind, because, honestly, that is not the reaction he has expected to hear. A short introduction or a greeting would have suffixes.  
So this is how it feels like when someone rejects you, Rei realizes.

"Well, then let's make this as short and painless as possible, shall we, Mr. Hiwatari?" It scares him sometimes that he could sound so awfully calm and nonchalant at the same time. The last time he heard himself use such a strange tone was years ago, when he had tried protecting Mao from neighbouring bullies and almost scratched out their eyes in the process. He inclines his head in a curt nod, "Good night, Mr. Hiwatari, it's nice to meet you," and smiles.

Hiwatari scrutinizes him one minute too long (analyzing, evaluating, re-analyzing...) and snorts. "I never said I will never date you, Kon."

Without elaborating anything at all, Hiwatari plops down on the chair across of Rei's chair as graceful as his lean form would allow him to do and places his briefcase neatly beside his feet, before lacing his fingers on top of the table. Waiting. Right, the perfect image of a businessman laying everything in the open, before he actually strikes with a plan, a goal and a strategy. "Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night?"

Blinking, Rei shakes his head, stunned. "No. I was just-," He shakes his head again, stopping his train of thoughts, blinks twice and then sighs. "Never mind." He makes an odd motion with his hand to wave off the matter and slides back down into his seat. So far, so good. Just peachy.

* * *

**- to be continued -**

**TheNekoTalks:**

I seriously and literally fought with this chapter. Tooth and Nail. 'nough said. **:is under pressure:**

**Thank you for reading! Even though it's so... lame.**

**.:Nekocin:.**

**Edit: :head desks: Again with the errors. Sorry.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** You've got the wrong number  
**Author:** Nekocin/tyreling  
**Fandom:** Bakuten Shoot Beyblade  
**Focus:** eventual KaiRei  
**Other:** PG13, AU, overall romance, series  
**Disclaimer:** Do not own Beyblade. If I did, I would have made KaiRei an official couple. :nods: Besides that, I do not own the themes mentioned later on for each chapter. Title of this fic, title of the chapter and the ringtone belongs to DBSK, from the song "Wrong number", album "MIROTIC".

* * *

**Chapter 2: "Reset, reset" **

**- theme: #2 cafe -**

* * *

The first unwritten rule one should take into consideration when meeting a blind date is 'smile as if you mean it and introduce yourself properly'. Rei forces a smile, but instead of a proper introduction he goes for the most common, if not effective, casual greeting in the book.

"How was your day, Mr. Hiwatari?"

"It was fine. And yours?" Mr. Hiwarari returns the gesture with mild interest.

Rei pushes back the urge to rant about how agonizing his day has gone (worrying about the stupid date, worrying about useless things to name a few), how suffocated he feels right now (he had been so jittery that he had accidentally tied his tie too closely to his neck bone), but surely, Mr. Hiwatari wouldn't appreciate a crash course on his day, would he?

"It was okay. Never been better."

Mr. Hiwatari ignored the poorly hidden sarcasm, nonchalantly picking up the Special's Menu card. Taking the hint, Rei mentally counts the money still left in his pouch--how much did he put in there anyway?

"Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Coke? Soda? Anything? My treat." His companion glances up from reading over the list, seemingly weighing the pros and the cons until he opens his mouth. "Coffee will do. Black coffee."

"Okay. Black coffee." Rei ignores the fact that he's parroting. "I'll be right back."

And Rei is already treading his way to the bar counter before Mr. Hiwatari could say anything remotely close to him doing a waiter's job. He'll think of something to talk while he gets the drinks.

Everything had gone smooth. Mr. Hiwatari had smiled (... not exactly, just a twitch of one side of his lips, so it suffixes somehow). Rei had smiled back. If he were to say his first date with Mr. Hiwatari had gone okay, he had obviously - most definitely - banged his head somewhere repeatedly, for sure.

It had gone horribly awkward after he got the drinks. Rei had stumbled over his words, constructed some of wrong sentences, mispronounced some words; so decent conversations were immediately out of the question. Rei didn't know anything about cars and engines. He didn't know whether the Brazilian coffee brands are better than American coffee brands or not. He didn't know about an upcoming drag race (what has that got to do with their earlier topics?). Were they even supposed to get to know each other this way?

And Mr. Hiwatari, that... that know-it-all, had looked exasperated and annoyed at him. Apparently, Rei must have said a lot of stupid things and ruined the other's appetite in one go. The guy didn't want dinner. He just appreciated the coffee as if that would fill his empty stomach.

After Mr. Hiwatari had cut their date short, claiming there's an important conference he had to attend, Rei had found Mr. Yuriy inconspicuously lurking around the restaurant's lobby wearing a fedora hat and ruffling a two days old newspaper. The look he threw the other man had said everything. He was really dying, dying of embarrassment and was oh-so-glad the date had come to an end.

Yuriy had assured him with a pet stroke across the back of his head. "At least Kai didn't leave the instant you spouted nonsense, Kon."

Rolling his eyes, he had swatted at the annoying hand and grumbled something or another below his breath, before heading out of the restaurant.

* * *

Fate seems to have taken pity on him, finally, and grants him room to breathe after a hectic period of worrying about lawsuits knocking on his door, about Mr. Yuriy going back on his word by turning -him- in to the authorities, about... a whole lot of other things.

Hiromi did not question his resolve when he had adamantly demanded she should cancel her membership and tell her mother about that guy she has been seeing, because there's absolutely no way he's going back to that Centre, completely powerless, and get himself convicted again. He's already made qualms to purchase a different cell phone and home phone numbers, just in case.

After a week or two when nothing unexpected happened yet, Rei carefully assumes the storm had passed, leaving him behind, a little tattered, a little scared and a little more relieved.

Life, for Rei, goes on.

He could now devote himself to work enthusiastically. Usually, around October and November, it's quiet and peaceful in his little cubicle, which he shares with three other colleagues. There's no constant ruffle of questionnaire sheets, ticking sounds of fingers flying across both keyboards and calculators, and the occasional serious talking during the verification phase of a project. There are no impatient phone calls from good-to-do directors or managers wanting full detailed reports on their daily progress.

However, on some odd days a large, lone piece of envelop will still find its way on his desk, sealed, stamped and approved by Kyouju, his direct supervisor; a written request stating a short-term project offer, mostly a research on anything relevant to business and the company asking his services--with a dry list of elements required for the job, the planned budget and the payments afterwards.

Like right now.

The research proposal is from a medium-sized organization, remotely not-well-known on this side of the city, Bollinger Corporation, wondering whether they should tread waters in this area or not and if a new product line is acceptable.

"It says here, further details can be discussed at the coming shareholders' meeting." says Salima, the only female in the cubicle, leafing through the project proposal before passing it to the guy sitting on her left, Max, the third party in their little cubicle. "One of you should go."

She raises her eyes to meet Rei's.

"And you mean me," Rei states, mildly surprised. "Why?"

Only a few months ago, Salima was introduced as the assistant, who would take care of the smaller projects, whereas Rei and Max tackle the bigger ones. Both Rei and Max had gladly pushed all the irrelevant folders into Salima's hand. It's a commonly acknowledged tradition in the business world; to pass all the little projects to the new colleague until he or she has proven worthy enough to be able to handle more difficult tasks. He, himself, had gone through that phase a year ago. Max had gone through it as well, right after his recruitment. There's no real reason to make this proposal an exception to this unwritten rule.

Salima taps the calendar hanging against the wall with her pen, pointing to one of the red-circled dates.

"I've other priorities that day. It's my first day off, remember?"

"And Max?" Rei prompts.

All eyes look expectantly to their blond colleague, who only gives them a strange sort of grin.

"Mom has been admitted to hospital recently. I've already received permission to take two weeks off. Sorry, Rei." Max says, and hands over the proposal to Rei, his grin not wavering at all.

"Which explains why the Chief had placed it on my desk. Figures." mutters Rei, resigning himself to work on the proposal. "Fine. I'm doing it. You two better work twice as hard when you come back."

"Of course we will!" His colleagues chorus instantly and flash each other V-signs like mischievous children they tend to be; a habit they like to use upon having successfully ganged up against him.

"Oh by the way, Rei, someone had called your phone a moment ago before you came in." Salima stops grinning, smoothes down her blouse that does not need any smoothing, and reaches over her desk for the small 'Hello Kitty' memo book.

"Who was it?"

"Guess." His colleague lifts her index finger to her own lips.

"Either my mother or one of my cousins, Mao most likely. Next week, we have a family reunion and they all want me to help out in the kitchen." Rei gives his first shot.

"Nope. Try again."

"If it's Hiromi. Tell her my answer is still no."

Max does not even try to hide his amusement as he releases abnormal snorts of sniggers behind the hand covering his mouth.

Salima shakes her head. "Nope. Try again."

He furrows his eyebrows. The only people, who know his business number, are his mother, his cousins, Hiromi and past clients. His mother doesn't call his office phone often; she prefers keeping her conversations personal rather letting anyone take down a message for her, and besides that, she has only memorized his cell number. Mao, most likely, calls on random, usually seeking him out whenever she's in a pinch, not caring whether he's at work or at home. Hiromi, however, always calls his cell phone. Which leaves... his past clients?

"If it's another project proposal you can give me their contact details. I can take it from here." Automatically, he reaches for a pencil from the desk organizer next to the LCD screen. Again, Salima interrupts him with another shake of her head, strands of red hair bouncing left and right.

"Nope."

He frowns at her in surprise. "Then who's it?"

"The person calls himself Kai," Salima reads off her notes, completely missing his incredulous stare. "He said you would know who to call. At first, his voice had sounded gruff, but later on, I realize he's actually using a hesitant tone. As if he's unsure whether he should be talking or not."

He has almost forgotten Salima's boyfriend is studying a degree in psychology.

"Who?" He asks weakly. The name sounds familiar...

"Kai. He also said he'd like to take you out for a cup of coffee sometime this week, without any prying ears around." Salima flips her memo book closed, flashing him an expectant grin. "So…"

"A guy asked you out! Who is this Kai-person? One of your clients?" Max cuts in unashamedly.

"What did he mean by prying ears? Is he connected with the underworld or something?" Salima fires away with the same enthusiasm Max has adapted.

For a moment he feels his throat constrict, apprehensive with their obvious interest in a person he has deliberately tried to forget. If they find out he's been blind-dating a lot some time ago, they will never let him down. If they ever find out that he has blind-dated (well, not exactly) the almighty Mr. Hiwatari, they will most definitely never, ever, ever leave him alone on that one.

_**-You've got the wrong number. You've got the wrong number. I'm sorry, you got the wrong number. So don't call me no more-**_ fills the room abruptly; it's the default ringtone he has set when an unknown caller ID rings his cell phone. His colleagues share an amused grin, raising identical eyebrows at him.

Excusing himself, he turns his back to his colleagues and answers the call. His curt greeting, though, gets cut off in mid sentence when a flood of questions reach his ears.

"What is this I hear about a second date, Kon? Didn't I say one date is enough? Who gave you permission to get another one?-" And the flood continues.

Clearly, it's Mr. Yuriy ranting on the other side of the line. After the third question, Rei pulls the phone away from his ear and ends the call abruptly.

So much for the quick save.

Sighing inwardly, he braves his colleagues, turning around and smiles with a shrug. "He got the wrong number. So where were we? Ahh, the project for Bollinger Corporation... right, I should work on it."

He grabs the folder, takes some random things from his desk and briskly walks out of the room, leaving his colleagues staring incredulously behind. By the time he has closed the door behind him, he wants to bang his head repeatedly against the wall and hide himself in the boarding room for the rest of his life.

Oh. My. God.

He hung up on Yuriy. Of course, he won't be left off that easily. Why the heck did he think the first date won't matter in the long run?

The Bollinger Corporate folder only manages to wrinkle when he slaps it upon his forehead. It, unfortunately, hasn't managed to knock him out cold the way he misleads himself to believe.

* * *

**- to be continued -**

**TheNekoTalks:**

I'm feeling really, really peachy now. Excuse me.

**Thank you for reading anyway!**

**.:Nekocin:.**


End file.
